Dive 2000 Dive Club - Sydney :: Beqa Lagoon Resort, Fiji: Two Tiger Sharks and a Bit of Sunshine by the Pool

It's never a bad time to hop a flight to Fiji for some nice diving, but I must admit that Beqa Lagoon exceeded my expectations of diving there. I think this may have had something to do with a certain species of striped shark, but we will get to that shortly.

Fifteen divers left cold, rainy Sydney for warmer weather, warmer waters, and diving with big fish. Our destination for the trip was Beqa Lagoon Resort, located on Beqa Island which is a Fijian 20 minute boat ride (that's about an hour in real time) from Pacific Harbour off the Southern coast of Vitu Levu. The resort features 25 deluxe air conditioned villas spread out over the neatly groomed resort grounds. Many of these are located along the beach and have their own courtyard and plunge pool, while others surround a Koi Pond or are tucked away in the garden. A large infinity pool with a waterfall is located next to the beach and the open air Bure Kalou, where a local band performs nightly, and meals and drinks are served. The meals are excellent and prepared with fresh local fish, vegetables and fruit, NewZealand Lamb and Australian beef. There are plenty of activities to keep even the most energetic person busy, such as kayaking, hiking, tours, and of course, diving.

Beqa Lagoon Resort is set up perfectly to accommodate large dive groups. When the drums sound after breakfast, all you need to do is show up with your wetsuit on and your camera in hand, everything else is set-up for you by the wonderful divemasters on one of their three large dive boats. Then it's out into the lagoon for two dives on any of the over 100 dive sites. The reefs in Beqa are pristine with spectacular hard and soft corals and beautiful marine life. Lion fish, leaf scorpionfish, clown triggerfish, blue ribbon eels, and millions of colourful anthias are just some of the life commonly seen on these reefs.

Of course, there is also the very rare and elusive Fijian tiger fish, identified and named by Kirsty. I myself did not actually see this fish and am a bit sceptical, but she assures me they do exist. Snacks and drinks are served during surface intervals while the divemasters change over all the tanks. After the dives, the crew remove all the dive equipment from the boat and wash and hang it in a secure area. Free shore diving is available on the house reef at anytime, and although not as impressive as the boat dives, it's a great way to get some extra bottom time and practice photo skills.

Our week of diving ended with the world famous Big Fish Encounter. This dive is rated as one of the top shark dives in the world and we would soon see why. The dive site is known as the Bistro, and it is perfectly set-up to conduct these big fish encounters with a roped off area known as the Arena, where the feeders bring in a wheelie bin full of fish. As we settled on the bottom behind the ropes at around 27m, we were immediately bombarded with massive amounts of swirling schools of jacks, snapper, and grouper.

Then sharks appear, up to nine different species, and it becomes a flurry of activity as thousands of fish and sharks come in for their bit of fish heads and pieces. Large Nurse Sharks are the first here, but the Bulls and Tigers are the main attraction. For a lucky few of us, myself included (a fancy looking camera or a video camera gives you a good chance) , the DM's actually take you into the arena to get up close and personal with the sharks. I was actually positioned at one end of the group with only a DM and a fish head between me and the bull sharks.

I must admit that it wasn't as unnerving as I thought it would be even when the thought did cross my mind that I was sitting in the water, with a good number of bull sharks darting in and out of schools of fish and a fish head being held out in front of me by a DM. I even had a fleeting thought about how cool it would be to feed them myself. The sharks come extremely close to you when you are in the arena, I had a bull shark rubs its belly on my head as it swam over me and a nurse shark's tail hit me in the face as it turned away from me. After about 20 minutes on the bottom, we began our ascent and saw black tip and white tip reef sharks in the shallower waters.

Back on the boat, we bobbed up and down for about an hour waiting for the next encounter. We were informed that if a Tiger Shark were to show up, it would be on the 2nd of the two dives. As we were all gearing up for our second dive, we heard one of the dive crew shout that the Tiger was here. I don't think I have ever seen a group of divers get in the water quicker than we did at that point! Of course, thinking back, who in their right mind jumps into the water blindly knowing a Tiger Shark is feeding below them?

The second dive takes place at a second roped off area called "The Take Out" situated at around 19m. We quickly dropped down, and were greeted with the most amazing site. The swirling jacks, grouper, and snapper were back, but this time the sharks were all but absent with the exception of a rather large, striped shark, which Kirsty noted to herself…"they should call that a Tiger Shark!" The tiger shark was absolutely beautiful, she moved slowly, but with intent, methodically approaching the DM's and taking fish from their hands, then swimming off directly over our heads and out of site before appearing out of the blue and returning for another hand out. She was about 9ft long (2.7m), with the beautiful striped marking on the sides that makes the Tiger shark look magnificent, and was extremely graceful as she moved through the water.

Then, it happened… a rare occurrence that catapulted this dive to one of my top dives of all times, a second Tiger shark appeared. Even the DM's that perform this dive regularly were excited. So, there we were, watching in awe as a 9ft tiger shark swam among us, when an even larger 12ft (3.6m) female showed up. It was absolutely amazing to witness these two large sharks calmly feeding and interacting with the DM's conducting the dive. The larger shark had a hook stuck on the side of her mouth which the DM's attempted to remove, without much luck, although she didn't seem too bothered by the whole affair. All too soon, the dive ended, and with the excitement and adrenaline from the dive still pumping through us, we headed back to the resort for an evening of local entertainment and a few drinks with Kristy and Simon - the King and Queen of the resort for the week.

The group had a great week diving and relaxing, and a few new friendships were made along the way. Only a little less wind and more sun could have made it better, but that's just weather I will just hope for a little more luck when we return as we plan too. Overall, the resort is tops, the shark dive is amazing, and I would recommend adding a visit here to your "must do" list.